Like a few others in my class, I came to Georgetown Law as a baby boomer who had gone to graduate school in humanities without realizing that few if any jobs would be available for Ph.D.'s. Like many humanities majors, I had long ago taken the LSAT. I also had worked on Capitol Hill for a year, an experienced that confirmed my interest in law. I started my law studies and thought I had died and gone to heaven. I have now been teaching law for 30 years and that sense of joy in the profession has never left me.

Going to Swaziland as part of the International Women's Human Rights Clinic, spending a summer in Germany for the International Internship during my 1L summer as well as an internship at the World Bank through the externship program in my 3L year were not only interesting and enjoyable trips, but also they gave me stories that I could share and connect with people for years after graduation.

Classmates and I (we are young!)

I was working first in the Tax Department at Arthur Andersen and then the Tax Department at Freddie Mac during the day while pursuing my Law School degree in the evening, so it was almost unfair for me to be taking those tax classes as a "professional" among true amateurs in the rest of my class.

The memorable (and amusing!) part for me was getting up at the graduation ceremony to accept the award and shaking hands with all of the GULC tax law professors who had never met me when I took their classes, so they had no idea who I was! Not much else of my law school studies was memorable since as a night student, I was just there to get my classwork done each evening and go home to bed!

When I started college, I told my father that I wanted to go to law school after getting my degree. Reflecting the time in which he lived, he said that women are only teachers and nurses and that I should prepare for one of those careers.

As it turned out, getting married just before getting my degree and starting a family interrupted any thoughts of law school. Only after my children were in college, and successfully selling a business that I had built, did my goal of law school become a reality. When I was in my mid-forties, Georgetown Law took a chance on me, telling me that a reason for accepting me was to contribute my knowledge and experiences of how the practice of law interacted with the success of a business. I still feel that I got a lot more from the teachers and my fellow students than what I gave of my accumulated knowledge.

Understanding the law and its underpinnings altered my perspective and made my life after law school quite different than it was before I began. Professor Martin Ginsburg completely changed my grasp of tax law and its nuances. My studies in constitutional law and art law were important to me as a citizen and an art consultant and collector.

I am grateful for my time at Georgetown Law School and for the impact it has had on my life.

I find myself thinking back on my Fall 2018 Global Health Law course, taught by Professors John Monahan and Sarah Roache. My classmates and I had the opportunity to attend the 70th Session of the Regional Committee of the World Health Organization for the Americas. I'm always so grateful for GULC's focus on the role of law in addressing global health concerns...and for the chance to learn alongside such an international group of peers!

I met my late-wife and classmate, Linda J. Morgan (L’76), while at the Law Center, had the privilege of working for and developing a life-long friendship with the legendary tax professor Peter P. Weidenbruch as his research assistant, took courses from and developed friendships with Dean Paul R. Dean and Professor Frank J. Dugan. During my three years, I also discovered the world of tax law, which was to form the core of my public service career, first as an Attorney Advisor at the United States Tax Court and then for 28 ½ years as a Federal tax prosecutor with the Tax Division, United States Department of Justice. I could not have been more prepared for my career than from my education at Georgetown Law.

But my three years as a JD student were just a precursor to my post-graduate service and relationship with Georgetown Law. Working with my wife and classmate Linda, we immediately became engaged in alumni-related activities, hosting events for admitted students, and organizing and coordinating each of our five-year reunions. With each year and event, we broadened the scope of our Georgetown Law connections and friendships! I became involved with the Law Alumni Board in 1996 and continue to serve as an Emeritus member.

Following a most distinguished public service career, including serving as the General Counsel of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation from 1986 until 1993, and then as the last Chair of the Interstate Commerce Commission and the first Chair of its successor agency, the Surface Transportation Board, both Presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed positions, my wife Linda joined the Law Center’s Board of Visitors in 2004 after beginning her private law career at Covington and Burling in 2003. Linda served on the Board of Visitors until her untimely death from breast cancer in November 2015. Following Linda’s death, I succeeded her on the Law Board of Visitors and continue to actively serve on that Board. Throughout our alumni time together, Georgetown Law was a primary recipient of our time, talent, and treasure but it always gave us back so much more than what we contributed!

Finally, over the course of the modern era of Georgetown Law beginning with the ascendancy of Paul R. Dean to the Deanship in 1954, Georgetown has been blessed with a series of outstanding Deans as leaders. But there have been, in my view, three great deans, and I would like to personally acknowledge and thank them for their service and friendship! The three great deans are Paul R. Dean (1954-69), Judith R. Areen (1989-2004 and 2010), and William Treanor (2010-present). Thank you all, and congratulations to Georgetown Law on its 150th Anniversary!

Law is but the means; justice is the end!

Lawrence E. Tucker (L'94, MBA'94), Stef Tucker (P'94, Adjunct Law Professor 1990-2017), and Marilyn Tucker (P'94; Founder and Director, International Internship Program; Georgetown Law Staff Member, Office of Career Services and Office of Career Strategy, 1981-Present), and grandchildren.

Teaching the vibrant, brilliant, and engaged Georgetown Law students is a never-ending delight.